Lauda, the ex-racing driver, said: No problems, that's what it was. It was illuminating to see the difference in vision after the race between the three main bosses of the Mercedes team - Toto Wolff, Paddy Lowe and Niki Lauda. And he got through that.īut he had been on pole in Abu Dhabi for the last two years, he won there in 2015, the weather is predictable, Mercedes were always going to dominate. And given his and Hamilton's relative performances over their careers, that has to be considered unlikely to happen again.īrazil was Rosberg's risk race - with the rain and the Red Bull performance there. Partly because, as Vettel said, you never know what's just around the corner and it was the first time he had gone into a title decider ahead. The second issue at play was that this was Rosberg's best chance of winning a world title. Longest wait for an F1 title: Mr Rosberg slots nicely into second here: with a 10-year wait over 206 races. He knew he just needed to pick up the points to win the title, so his mentality and game plan changed.
It did because Hamilton had a very clear focus on getting pole and winning at the last four races of the season, and he delivered.Īt the same time, Rosberg's focus was on the championship and he could be risk-averse. It might not have done, after the big turnaround in points following Hamilton's engine failure while leading in Malaysia.
The first was a world championship season that came down to the last race. Hamilton's actions arose out of a culmination of two things. Select your 2016 F1 heroes and villains.The season of Rosberg's life but 'never Hamilton's equal'.That is something for Mercedes to ponder as Formula 1 prepares for another major rule change in 2017. They lasted for exactly one more race, before Mercedes' domination started with a change of regulations at the beginning of 2014. Sebastian Vettel had already won his fourth consecutive world title for Red Bull two races earlier in India, and Austin was a record eighth consecutive win in a single season.Īs Vettel celebrated on his slowing down lap, he came over the radio and said to the team: "We must enjoy these days while they last." Hamilton finishes just ahead of Rosberg after deliberately slowing down to back Rosberg into rivals And as Mercedes talk about waiting to let the dust settle before deciding whether to punish Lewis Hamilton for deliberately backing Rosberg into rivals in Abu Dhabi, they maybe ought to cast their minds back to the 2013 US Grand Prix. It is a staggering performance from one team. This year alone, world champion Nico Rosberg scored 50% more points than the man in third place, Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo.
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